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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1993

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d93feb126

Sun's influence on climate: two articles plus a related commentary in the Nov. 26 Nature discuss evidence that most of the recent warming trend is caused by greenhouse forcing, not variations in solar irradiance. (See Prof. Pubs./Gen. Int. Sci.; New Scientist, p. 18, Dec. 5.)

Item #d93feb127

CFCs slacken: Research presented at last November's meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol (GCCD, p. 13, Jan. 1993) shows that the rates of increase of CFC-11 and CFC-12 have slowed in response to international controls under the Protocol. However, considerable ozone destruction will continue to occur from past emissions, regardless of future emission declines. See Science, pp. 28-29, Jan. 1. 1992

Item #d93feb128

Perfluorocarbon lifetimes: A study published in the Jan. 8 Science finds that perfluorocarbons--potential CFC substitutes composed only of carbon and fluorine--have long atmospheric lifetimes and could contribute to greenhouse warming for thousands of years. The U.S. EPA is considering perfluorocarbons as acceptable alternatives to CFCs if nothing else is available. (See Intl. Environ. Rptr., p. 15, Jan. 13 1993; Global Environ. Change Rep., p. 5, Jan. 15. 1993)

Item #d93feb129

SAFARI experiment: Scientists from over 13 nations studied a planned burning of biomass last September in South Africa, as part of the Southern African Fire-Atmosphere Research Initiative (SAFARI). (See Nature, pp. 776 and 812, Oct. 29 1992).

Item #d93feb130

Meetings Reports:

• 1992 Aspen Global Change Institute. "The Coupled Ocean System and Global Change," G. Meehl, D. Schimel, Eos, pp. 2, 14, Jan. 5; "Freshwater, Land, and Biospheric Interactions: Changes and Impacts," M. Meier, M. Falkenmark, W. Riebsame, Eos, p. 556, Dec. 29.
• Meetings on Earth System History, E. Barron, Eos, pp. 338-339, Aug. 11. Discusses sessions organized by the U.S. National Science Foundation and associated reports, aimed at organizing a larger research planning workshop of interested Earth scientists.

Item #d93feb131

NASA Global Change Fellowships: For already enrolled doctoral students; proposals due April 1. Contact Fellowship Prog., Code SE-44, NASA, Washington DC 20546.

Item #d93feb132

"Secrets from Tibet's Icy Peaks," Science, p. 181, Jan. 8. An American-Chinese expedition has obtained ice cores from a Tibetan glacier that span up to 200,000 years of seasonal deposits of snow and dust. The annual stratigraphy of the core is much more pronounced than is found in ice at more poleward locations such as Greenland.

Item #d93feb133

"Atmospheric Research Plane Unveiled," Chem. Eng. News, p. 8, Jan. 4. The unmanned plane, the first designed specifically for high-altitude research, will collect data related to stratospheric ozone and other problems up to an altitude of 98,000 feet.

Item #d93feb134

"Getting an Earful of Climate," Science, p. 1087, Nov. 13. A geologist and a paleontologist from the University of Michigan are attempting to determine past temperatures in the North American interior by analyzing lumps of calcium carbonate (otoliths) found in the ears of most fish. They are measuring the oxygen isotopes of daily layers of carbonate in otoliths found in fossil deposits and among Indian artifacts.

Item #d93feb135

"Southeast Asian Gases and Coasts," R.H. Moss, Ambio, p. 491, Nov. Summarizes research plans submitted by the Southeast Asia Regional Committee for the START program of the IGBP. Activities will focus on estimates of greenhouse-gas fluxes, especially in relation to changes in land use and cover, and will assess the impacts of sea level increase on terrestrial and marine resources in the coastal zone.